LONDON — Early screenings of 'One of Us,' a highly anticipated British political drama inspired by the Boris Johnson era, have reportedly left test audiences struggling to distinguish between the fictional narrative and actual historical events. Producers are now grappling with how to make the series seem less like a direct transcript of recent headlines.

“We tried to add a few more dragons and maybe a talking badger to really lean into the ‘fiction’ aspect,” explained showrunner Eleanor Vance. “But focus groups kept saying, ‘No, no, that’s exactly what it felt like at the time.’ One woman was convinced our fictional Prime Minister’s bizarre hair was a subtle nod to a real person, which, you know, it was, but we didn’t want it to be *that* obvious.”

The series, which reportedly features a bumbling, charismatic leader prone to gaffes, lavish parties during national lockdowns, and an ever-revolving door of advisors, has been praised for its uncanny realism. However, this realism has become a double-edged sword.

“The problem is, real life in British politics has been operating at a level of absurdist theater for so long, anything we invent just sounds like Tuesday’s news,” said lead writer Marcus Thorne. “We wrote a scene where the Prime Minister hides in a fridge to avoid an interview, and then we had to scrap it because we worried people would think we were just copying.”

Studio executives are reportedly considering adding a disclaimer before each episode, stating, “While based on actual events, this program contains scenes that are, regrettably, entirely plausible.”